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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29516982">Lace Roses</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/mareyshelley/pseuds/mareyshelley'>mareyshelley</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Once Upon a Time (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dirty Talk, Enthusiastic Consent, F/M, Light BDSM, Memory Loss, Oral Sex, Power Dynamics, Praise Kink, Subspace, collaring, soft domming</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 03:27:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>17,276</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29516982</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/mareyshelley/pseuds/mareyshelley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rumplestiltskin fell over the town line that night to protect Belle. Now she has to remind Mr. Gold who he really is, and who they are to each other.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>77</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>150</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He wasn’t there. Belle had gone to the hospital to pick up Rumple -- <em> Mr. Gold </em> -- but he wasn’t there.</p><p>Whale said he’d discharged himself and insisted he didn’t need a carer or anyone else to drive him home. But he wasn’t at home. Belle had come from their house to pick him up, and she hadn’t seen his Cadillac on her walk to the hospital.</p><p>Rumple wasn’t Gold, she knew that. She had to keep telling herself and everyone else that he was different, but some things never changed. If he wasn’t at the hospital or at home, there was only one place he could be. Rumple always threw himself into work, into making deals or spinning, it stood to reason that Mr. Gold, who owned most of the property in Storybrooke, would do the same.</p><p>They weren’t the same, and yet they were.</p><p>The townsfolk struggled with that. When Regina had come to the hospital and told him she knew he was awake, Mr. Gold had only smiled emptily and asked how her boy was. Regina had taken it as a threat not to push Rumple any further, but Belle caught the flash of confusion on his face when Regina left.</p><p>When David and Mary Margaret had visited him, Rumple had looked nothing but bored and irritated. Gold had no memories of David Nolan. He hadn’t existed in Storybrooke until after Rumple had been woken, and so he had barely exchanged more than a few, calculated words with Charming. But he recognised Mary Margaret as a school teacher, a woman who owed him rent, and when he asked if she was there hoping that her visit would mean he’d give her an extension, Belle could see he was being serious.</p><p>Then there was the way he looked at her. There was no spark or tenderness in his eyes when he glanced her way, and she was lucky to get even a glance. She’d caught him taking more of a look when he thought she wouldn’t see. His eyes roamed over her body and lingered over her legs, but the moment he knew he was being watched in return, Gold had looked away, uninterested in her again.</p><p>He wasn’t Rumple, but they were similar.</p><p>Hurrying from the hospital and back into town, Belle found the sign on the pawnshop turned to <em> ‘open.</em>’</p><p>The familiar tinkle of the bell rang in the shop as she entered, but it was the only familiar thing about the welcome she got. Gold looked up, gave her a brief once over, and returned to reading through his books. She missed the way he used to look at her. His eyes and smile had been so soft their last night together, before Hook had taken a shot at her. Before Rumple fell over the line as he pushed her away. He’d saved her and lost himself. Now his eyes were only ever cold or full of cruel amusement, depending on his mood. Today he was cold.</p><p>“Is there something I can do for you, dear?” he asked, uninterested.</p><p>Belle pressed her lips together and willed herself not to let his dismissive attitude get the better of her. She wouldn’t cry in front of Mr. Gold. He wouldn’t comfort her like Rumple would. She could at least take comfort in the fact that he hadn’t pushed her away or insulted her yet. He hadn’t allowed anyone else to visit him more than once in the hospital, but Belle had seen him every day and even when he barely spoke to her, he didn’t tell her to leave.</p><p>“You didn’t go home,” she said, stepping further into the shop. “Whale told me you’d gone home, but I--”</p><p>“I have work to do,” he interrupted, and jotted something down in his ledger. He was checking his rent books, she realised, for the months he couldn’t remember. His last memory was of collecting rent, right before Emma had decided to stay. Everything else that had happened after that was blank, including their relationship.</p><p>“You need to rest,” Belle insisted.</p><p>“I don’t need rest,” Gold said impatiently. “I’ve been resting for weeks. I’m perfectly capable of checking who owes me money.” He returned to his book and made another note. “It seems I’ve been lax the last few months.”</p><p>Belle shook her head and stepped up to the counter. She put her hands on the glass and Gold looked caught between leaning towards her and swatting her hands away.</p><p>“You had a change of heart,” she said, trying to smile. “A lot’s changed around here.”</p><p>“Yes, but I haven’t.” He snapped the book shut and Belle jumped. “And I have a lot of rent to collect. If you’ll excuse me.”</p><p>Rounding the counter, his cane clicking heavily with his steps, Gold made his way to the door. Belle couldn’t help herself. She hadn’t touched him since he’d lost his memories, but she grabbed his arm and forcibly stopped him from leaving. For a moment she thought he might be angry, until he stared at her hand on him in confusion. He was shocked, but probably more worried about the creases she’d leave in his suit than angry at being manhandled.</p><p>“What are you doing?” he asked, looking up at her with a raised brow.</p><p>Belle swallowed and lifted her chin. “I’m taking you home.”</p><p>“How do you know where I live?”</p><p>“Because I… I live there.”</p><p>He snorted and shrugged his arm free of her grip. It was the closest she’d seen to a genuine laugh on Rumple’s face in weeks; one that wasn’t mocking or snide, anyway. But then he realised that she wasn’t smiling, and he frowned.</p><p>“In my house?” he asked. Belle nodded. He looked her over, from her heels to her eyes, and she shifted from one foot to the other. “When did you start working for me?”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Is there something wrong with Miss Boyd?” Gold asked, resuming his walk to the door. “The girl’s been a competent enough cleaner, even with her unfortunate pregnancy. I wouldn’t say she was so bad that I’d need to hire a live-in maid.”</p><p>“I’m not--”</p><p>“If I were to hire anyone it would be the Lucas girl, just to see the look on her grandmother’s face.” He glanced at her. “Not a stranger.”</p><p>She slammed her hand against the door, stopping him from opening it and leaving, and the bell rang unhappily.</p><p>“I’m not a stranger,” she said, but he only smirked and pulled the door open again.</p><p>“Of course.”</p>
<hr/><p>It was impossible to distract Mr. Gold from his work, but she tried. He visited two tenants, and Belle had given them both apologetic smiles when they turned to her in wide-eyed confusion. Gold had mistaken their reactions for fear and an unwillingness to pay, but they had paid, and he’d moved on to the next person on his list.</p><p>The third name, she realised, was her father. Gold drove towards the flower shop, and Belle panicked. She hadn’t seen her father since he’d kidnapped her and tried to send her over the town line. He’d likely welcome her back, and try to convince her to stay away from Gold just as ardently as he’d tried to keep her from Rumple, but Belle wanted to avoid that entirely. She wasn’t ready to see him yet, and she didn’t want him to know Rumple had forgotten who he was or what they were to each other.</p><p>“<em>Wait</em>,” she said, hurrying out of the Cadillac after him. “You can’t. Not him.”</p><p>“I’m sorry, dear. Have I forgotten something important?” he clipped, not stopping until she jumped between him and the flower shop door.</p><p>“You’ve forgotten a lot of important things,” she reminded him. He only smiled, faintly. He didn’t seem to realise how serious it was that an entire chunk of his memory was missing. Belle had to wonder if it was a lingering effect of the curse, stopping him from questioning the missing details in his mind.</p><p>He sighed with tested patience, but stopped. He rested both hands on his cane and straightened his shoulders.</p><p>“And what have I forgotten about Moe French? Does he suddenly own my building, and did he pay back all of his loan and I just, what?” He lifted a hand and shrugged, in a manner that was very similar to Rumple. “I forgot to make a note of it, I suppose?”</p><p>“No, of course not,” Belle said, resisting the urge to swat his raised hand. He lowered it back to his cane before she had the chance. “It was <em> your </em> idea to stay away from him. No more rent. No more anything. No contact at all.”</p><p>“And why would I do that?”</p><p>“For me!” She took a deep breath. He must have suspected what sort of relationship they had, even if he had assumed that them living together meant she was his maid. That wasn’t unlike Rumple, either. “We’re estranged, and you didn’t want to give him an excuse to come near me.”</p><p>“Estranged?” he repeated, frowning.</p><p><em> Oh</em>. He didn’t know. Of course he didn’t. She hadn’t existed during the curse. She’d been locked away, and Moe French didn’t have any children.</p><p>Belle took a deep breath and nodded. She’d told herself, as she watched him arguing with Whale in the hospital, that she would be the one to tell him the truth. Not about magic, or their home world, but about who and what they were. She would be as honest with him as she could be.</p><p>“He’s my father,” she said.</p><p>A look came over him, replacing his confusion with understanding. His shoulders slumped and he looked up to the shop as if seeing it for the first time.</p><p>“Please,” she continued, before he could ruin the moment and charge into her father’s shop regardless. She took his hand and guided him around to the car. To her surprise, he followed her. “Let’s go home.”</p><p>Gold reluctantly returned to the car, but not without a quip about how he thought <em> she </em> worked for <em> him</em>, and a calculating look in his eyes. She knew he was watching her. He may have been unphased about his missing memories, but he was still watching her closely; trying to piece the puzzle together himself. </p><p>Maybe that was for the best. He’d never believe her if she told him she was his girlfriend. He needed to see it for himself, and he would, as soon as they were home.</p><p>The drive there was a quiet one, but Belle didn’t mind. The silence gave her a chance to prepare what she would tell him when he finally realised that she didn’t work in his house, she lived there. With him. She wondered what would give her away first. Would it be her coats hanging up beside his in the hall, or the things she kept hidden away in their bedroom? The things that only her and Rumple were supposed to see.</p><p>A nervousness danced in her stomach as the pink Victorian came into view down the street. She glanced at Rumple out of the corner of her eye, but nothing gave away what he was thinking. He was focused on driving and his own troubles, not worrying about his maid’s nerves.</p><p>It was still good to see the house, and to pull up the drive with Rumple by her side. He may not have remembered her, but the fairies had already promised to find a way to return the memories of anyone who crossed the town line. Even those of the Dark One.</p><p>He said nothing to her as he left the car, but he held the door open for her and walked beside her to the front porch. Belle kept her hands by her sides, resisting the urge to link her arm through his, as Gold unlocked the front door and stepped inside. She braced herself before forcing her feet to move forward. She had no way of knowing how he would react to the news that they were together, and she couldn’t help but worry that maybe he wouldn’t want to be with her after he found out.</p><p>“I dread to think what a mess the place is in,” he said, disappearing inside. Belle closed and locked the door, and hurried after the sound of his cane tapping through the kitchen. She found him looking the room over, dusting his hand over the countertops.</p><p>“Why?” she asked, and he turned to her as if he hadn’t heard her following after him.</p><p>“I shouldn't think you've got much cleaning done,” Gold reasoned, and moved into the dining room. “Not with you so kindly visiting me every day.”</p><p>Belle frowned and followed him. He brushed his hand over the dining table, checking for dust, and Belle crossed her arms.</p><p>“Haven’t you wondered why I wanted to see you <em> every </em> day?”</p><p>Another glance her way, and Gold was gone again. His cane didn’t slow him down on his inspection of the downstairs rooms, and his determination to avoid her made Belle all the more determined to follow him.</p><p>“I suspect you’re hoping to get into my good books,” he mused.</p><p>“I’m already in your good books,” she muttered.</p><p>He wasn’t supposed to hear her, and she didn’t think he had, but there was a twinkle of amusement in his eye when he turned to look at her. He didn’t indicate whether or not he found the house clean enough for his standards, but she took his silence as a positive one.</p><p>“I’m going upstairs,” he said as if he was dismissing her. “Can you make tea?”</p><p>Belle nodded before she could think why he would be asking, or to tell him to make his own. She wasn't his maid.</p><p>"Good," Gold said before she had the chance. "You can bring a cup to my study."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He couldn’t work out what had possessed him to hire Moe French’s daughter. She was a pretty thing, but Gold wasn’t the sort of man to let a pretty face turn his head. Or so he’d thought, but what he found in his bedroom was enough to make him reconsider.</p><p>The first thing he’d noticed was a scrap of silk lying beside his neatly folded pyjamas on the bed. Gold had known what it was immediately, but he hadn’t been able to resist picking up the pale silk, pinched between his thumb and forefinger, for a closer look. It was a negligee, a very thin negligee with a lace trim that would barely cover anything. He dropped it back onto the bed and checked the rest of the room.</p><p>In the drawers, he found that his own underwear and socks had been moved around to make space for several sets of colourful lingerie. Neatly tucked into the corner of the top drawer, beside a lacy blue set, was a strip of black cloth which looked suspiciously like a blindfold, and soft handcuffs, in a pretty brown leather that left him in no doubt what they were used for. He snapped the drawer shut.</p><p>In his closet, beside his carefully hung suits and polished shoes, were dresses and heels and brightly coloured coats.</p><p>It seemed he really was a fool who’d been taken in by a pretty face, but he couldn’t understand why. What had changed to make him fall for someone who was clearly a gold digger?</p><p>Nothing else seemed to be out of place. The mayor and he still didn’t get along, and her thinly veiled threats for him to stop <em> pretending </em> he’d lost his memory did nothing but amuse him. She wasn’t the only one who didn’t believe him. That was something else that set French’s daughter apart from the rest. She believed him, and she almost seemed sad about his missing memories. He could see why, now. He’d severely underestimated their relationship and why she was really trying to help him.</p><p>He left the room in a hurry, clutching his cane tight, and found Belle standing by the sitting room window. Light flooded in, shining in her chestnut hair and catching on a small pearl hanging from her neck. It was easy to be pulled in by her beauty, too easy, but he was himself again and he wouldn’t let her use him anymore.</p><p>She turned to him with a smile that looked far too genuine for his liking.</p><p>“What was the nature of our relationship?” he asked, and her smile wavered.</p><p>Clasping her hands together, Belle moved towards him, biding her time, but he didn’t give her a chance to come up with a pretty lie.</p><p>“Spit it out, dear. Or would you rather have me believe we were sleeping together?”</p><p>She frowned, and Gold didn’t think he’d ever seen an expression look so wrong on someone’s face before. </p><p>“We’re <em> dating</em>,” she corrected. The indignant note in her voice made him smile. He wasn’t sure which impressed him more; the fact that she thought he’d believe that, or what a good little actress she was. She played a good game, he’d give her that. She certainly wasn’t a blundering idiot like her father.</p><p>“And what are you getting in return for <em> dating </em> me?” Gold asked, smile sharpening when she narrowed her eyes at him.</p><p>“Excuse me?”</p><p>“There must be something,” he reasoned. “All of your father’s rent and loans wavered, perhaps?” He pointedly looked her up and down, and he had to give her credit for not looking uncomfortable under his appraising gaze. All of her clothes were designer, and he doubted a florist’s daughter would be able to afford even half of the wardrobe he’d found upstairs. “Or nice clothes for yourself?”</p><p>Belle clenched her fists. He thought she might slap him, but of course didn’t. She’d play the part of the caring girlfriend who wasn’t with him for his money. She was very good. Any other old fool might have believed her, but he wasn’t a fool.</p><p>“I know you’ll regret saying that when you get your memories back,” she said patiently. “So I’ll pretend you didn’t.”</p><p>“How generous,” he drawled, adjusting his hand on his cane to move closer to her. “Are you always so generous, Miss French?”</p><p>She didn’t back down and she didn’t look away. He’d expected her little charade to break if he got too close to her, but instead she stood her ground and raised her chin to hold his gaze.</p><p>“When people need help, yes.”</p><p>Gold snorted. “And I need help, do I?”</p><p>Her determined, set jaw relaxed. Her shoulders slumped, and he thought she might finally be giving him a glimpse into who she really was, but all he saw was sadness.</p><p>“You lost your memories,” she reminded him.</p><p>“So you all keep saying.”</p><p>He wondered what must have happened to him in the missing months that convinced him to take this young woman into his bed. She was beautiful. Sleeping with her would be more than easy, and if the array of toys hidden in their room were anything to go by, they certainly had fun, but he wouldn’t let anyone take him for a fool. He never would have let the clever little thing pretend to care for him unless something drastic had happened that he didn’t know about yet. Or, more likely, something he already knew about but had since forgotten.</p><p>“I take it this means you didn’t make the tea?” he asked.</p><p>“No, I didn’t, because we need to talk.”</p><p>Gold made a face and glanced around the sitting room. “And can we not talk over tea?”</p><p>“You’d use it as a distraction,” she said, sitting down and nodding to the spot beside her. “And this is important.”</p><p>Clever thing. She was determined. There was no stopping a woman like her, once she saw something she wanted, and didn’t she look perfect in his sitting room, on his couch. She sat as if she belonged there; completely at ease with him watching her so closely. Her legs crossed, revealing more of her pale thighs, and she made no attempt to cover them.</p><p>Smiling indulgently, Gold sat down beside her and rested his cane against his leg. She didn’t even look at it. She looked him in the eye and smiled softly.</p><p>“Did anything come back to you upstairs?” she asked.</p><p>“Did I have a sudden memory of you and I together, you mean?” he returned. She didn’t answer, but her eyes sparkled with something close to hope. That was all the answer he needed. “I’m afraid not. I found your clothes in my room”</p><p>She bit her lip, but it was hard to tell if she was trying not to smile or cry.</p><p>“You really don’t remember a thing?” she asked, a tremor in her voice. He hoped she wasn’t going to cry and put on a show.</p><p>“I’ll tell you what,” Gold sighed. “Tell me the truth about <em> us</em>, and I’ll tell you if anything rings a bell.” He smiled, in what he hoped was his least amicable smile, the kind he used when making deals and hoping to win over an unsuspecting desperate soul, but she smiled back and disarmed him. His smile wavered when she reached out to take his hand.</p><p>“And what do you want in return?” Belle asked, pressing her lips together and twisting her mouth. She was <em> teasing </em> him, he realised, and trying not to laugh while doing it. She had to have known he liked making deals, but somehow it amused her.</p><p>He shrugged and made a vague gesture with his free hand. Belle’s lips parted.</p><p>“That remains to be seen,” he answered. “It depends.”</p><p>She licked her lips. “On what?”</p><p>“On whether or not I like what you tell me.”</p><p>Her smile didn’t waver again. She lifted her chin, accepting his challenge, and Gold almost found himself returning her pleased smile. She was very certain of herself; that her pretty words and pretty face would be enough to convince him.</p><p>“I <em> was </em> your maid,” she began, but despite her confidence it was slow. She was choosing her words carefully. “We spent a lot of time together, just the two of us.”</p><p>“And then we started sleeping together?” he finished for her, bluntly, hoping to make her flinch. It didn’t, but she did frown at the interruption. Even that was pretty.</p><p>“<em>And then</em>,” she continued, “I realised everyone was wrong about you. You aren’t who people say you are.”</p><p><em> What an odd girl. </em> She smiled sweetly as she had that, hoping to see something in response to her words, but he gave her nothing. Gold kept his face carefully blank, even as her smile slowly faded and his stomach twisted at how wrong it looked. She had no reason to be disappointed. And he had no reason to care about her disappointment.</p><p>Gold sighed.</p><p>“You expect me to believe you get nothing from our arrangement?” he asked evenly.</p><p>She eyed him, no doubt trying to find a way to deceive him, but he waited. There would be no out for her. He wouldn’t allow her to think that her sweet words had softened him. They weren’t in a romantic relationship. They hadn’t <em> got to know </em> one another and grown closer. She was keeping something from him. He could see it.</p><p>“Well,” Belle said at last, drawing out the word and leaning towards him. “There is something.”</p><p>Before he could remind himself to be careful with her, Belle lifted her lips to his. They met him with the lightest touch; a sweet press of soft skin and the faint scent of her floral perfume.</p><p>Gold pulled back and stared at her. She bit her lip, the picture of hopeful innocence, and he knew he had to get away. Her charms had already pulled him in once. He wouldn’t let her do it again.</p><p>“You should sleep in a different room tonight,” he decided, standing. “If you still intend on staying here at all.”</p><p>Her shoulders sagged. Belle sat back, a sad little pout shaping her full lips, and he turned away.</p><p>“I’m not going anywhere,” she promised quietly.</p><hr/><p>Gold seemed to have taken her words as a challenge. After confessing the nature of their relationship, he’d thrown himself back into his work. He stayed late at the shop, even after moving her into the guest bedroom, while the Charmings came to ask if she <em> really </em> believed his memories were gone.</p><p>“They are,” she insisted morosely, on one of their few visits to the library. “We kissed, but it didn’t wake him.”</p><p>“You kissed Mr. Gold?” Snow repeated. Her surprise teetered just on the edge of disgust, and David rubbed his hands against her back; a silent reminder to be nice to Belle. Of course she’d kissed Mr. Gold. He was Rumplestiltskin, her True Love, and they’d used to communicate through simple touches, too.</p><p>“We just wanna be sure,” David said, his own tone just a little too concerned. Belle continued shelving books. “After everything that’s happened, we just need to know Rumplestiltskin’s not--”</p><p>“He wouldn’t lie,” she interrupted quietly. “Not after a kiss like that.”</p><p>They left soon after, and Belle wiped her eyes on her sleeve. Rumple really was cursed, and people cared more about making sure he was telling the truth about his memory loss, than finding a cure for it. Belle had no magic, and with both Sneezy and Rumple down, the fairies had taken charge to find the cure. Rumple wouldn't like it, but there was nothing she could do. A kiss hadn’t worked, and she was getting desperate.</p><p>She shelved the last book, and paused. Between the books on meanderers and wanderlust, and the pages on North America and the wider world, there was a book missing. She checked her cart, but there was nothing left to shelve on that aisle.</p><p>Peering into the gap, Belle frowned. She slipped her hand in and pulled back a folded sheet of translucent paper. There was no one else in the library, but she still glanced around to double-check before unfolding it. She’d expected a note, written in a language she could understand, but the strange marks covering the page were almost indecipherable. They were likely part of some sort of map, but Belle didn’t know how to read them, or where they might lead to. It had to be something important, to hide a partial map away amongst the stacks.</p><p>She looked to the front of the library, to the high windows which overlooked Rumple’s shop.</p><p>If Rumple had hidden something, then it would make sense for him to entrust its whereabouts to someone he trusted. And he only trusted one person. Her heart beat faster. Carefully, Belle folded the map back up, slipped it into her purse, and locked it in her office. It would be safer in there than out on the shelves.</p><p>In the meantime, she had to find a way to keep Gold himself safe. Hook was somewhere in Storybrooke, and she didn’t trust Regina not to take advantage of Rumple’s memory loss. He wasn’t safe, and she needed him to stop avoiding her.</p><p>That afternoon, Belle picked up lunch from Granny’s. She took it to his shop, where he’d hidden himself away in the back room, and tried to convince him to eat with her. She did the same every day for the following week, and he grumbled every time. She and Rumple had done that many times, on her lunch breaks from the library, but it didn’t spark any recognition in Gold. He barely looked at her, and it was hard to draw him into conversation. She tried, but he was suspicious of her. Beyond quips that never failed to make her smile, or biting comments at the reminder that he’d lost his memory, he offered nothing in return. He gave away little and so the conversations always ended with them eating in silence.</p><p>She was close to giving up and finding another way to spend time with him, to get him to open up to her, when it finally worked.</p><p>Gold came into the back room as she set down her bag of burgers and fries, leaning heavily on his cane, and sat at his workbench. Belle stilled. He was wearing a red tie.</p><p>There was a special code she and Rumple had developed over their months in Storybrooke. She would wear her collar, or he would wear a red tie, to let the other know that when they returned home that evening, they wanted to play. Sometimes the scenes would be discussed. Sometimes one of them had something specific in mind, a part they wanted the other to play. Sometimes it was improvised. Up until that point, Gold had worn nothing but black. He didn’t know anything of their system, but seeing him in a red tie gave her pause.</p><p>“What have you brought today?” he asked. His tone was light and controlled, as it usually was, but it still managed to make her jump.</p><p>She shook herself, holding up one of the bags from Granny’s, and couldn’t stop herself from smiling at his mild look of interest. To anyone else he would seem bored with the whole thing, but Rumple grew bored of things easily. If he wasn’t interested, he wouldn’t ask her about it. He wouldn’t be looking at her at all if he wasn’t interested.</p><p>“Hamburgers,” Belle answered, setting the bag down in front of him.</p><p>He peered inside carefully, hooking only a finger over the edge to see the food within. She put a cup of iced tea beside it and sat opposite him. She could feel him watching her as she went through her own bag and pulled out the box containing the burger, but she didn’t return his curious look.</p><p>Let him watch her, she thought. She wanted his attention, and she would lose it quickly if she did something too predictable.</p><p>“Wouldn’t you rather eat in Granny’s?” he asked, and she finally gave in to her own curiosity and looked up at him. He hadn’t touched his food.</p><p>“You’d eat with me in public?” she teased, but it didn’t make him smile like she’d hoped. He only raised an eyebrow and turned his attention to his food.</p><p>“I said <em> you</em>,” he corrected, sliding his food out of the bag. “Not you and I.”</p><p>“But then you’d be eating alone.”</p><p>“Is there something wrong with that?” he asked.</p><p>“No, but--” Belle shrugged and looked down at her burger. “I’d rather eat with you.”</p><p>“Than with your friends?”</p><p>“I don’t have many friends.”</p><p>“I find that hard to believe,” he said absently.</p><p>She watched him take a sip of his ice tea and a bite of his burger, and he didn’t once glance up to see her reaction to his words. It was as if he hadn’t intended it to sound like a note of praise. It was a simple, throwaway fact to him, that he thought she was likeable and would have many friends, but it was enough to make her smile.</p><p>“Before I forget,” he said without looking up. “I found something of yours in my desk.”</p><p>“Oh?”</p><p>He smirked. “Well, I do hope it’s yours.”</p><p>Standing, Gold took his cane and reached for a small, unassuming box on his desk, nestled amongst piles of books and papers. It was a small thing, black velvet and almost identical to a jewellery box, but it wasn’t a jewellery box. Not really. She knew what it was, even before he sat it in her palm. Even before she opened it and saw the long, slim pendant inside, she knew what it was. The rose gold cylinder, a vibrator pendant on a long chain, shined from its black cushion, and Belle blushed. </p><p>“I’ll take that as a yes,” Gold said, sitting opposite her again. “I don’t need to ask what it was doing here.”</p><p>Belle ducked her head, tempted to tuck the box away in her purses, where the map was still hidden, but something in his tone told her not to. He was amused, but he wasn’t mocking her or trying to make her uncomfortable. In the Dark Castle, Rumple had done a lot of things to gauge her reaction; to try to prove to both her and himself that he was a monster, and she could never really like him. She looked up at Gold, and the confident spark in his eyes and the tilt of his lips. It was the same expression.</p><p>Instead of hiding the box away, she ignored the warm flush in her cheeks and took the necklace out. Gold didn’t say a thing, but he also didn’t move. He remained quiet as she fixed the necklace around her neck, pulled her hair free, and let the pendant sit in the V of her dress. It drew the eye, deliberately, to the peek of her cleavage beneath the soft, blue lace.</p><p>“I’ve been looking everywhere for this,” she said, to keep the silence from dragging out, and leaned across the table to kiss the corner of his mouth. “Thank you.”</p><p>His triumphant smile faded. He hadn’t flustered her or pushed her away like he’d hoped. She met him with only confidence and openness. Rumple had touched that necklace many times before. He didn’t remember, but that didn’t stop it from being true. Belle just wished that the twinkle in his eyes hadn’t been from amusement, but recognition. Gold didn’t recognise it at all.</p><p>“Maybe I’ll use it later,” she added, sighing heavily. “Now that I have to sleep on my own.”</p><p>He swallowed a small bite of burger and nodded thoughtfully. “Maybe if you’re good--”</p><p>The bell rang in the front of the shop, and whatever he was about to say was forgotten. Like so much else. He looked away, set his food aside and grasped his cane. It was an easy escape, an excuse to get away from her and her forwardness, and he took it.</p><p>“I’ll be back in a moment,” he left her with, and disappeared through the curtain.</p><p>Belle deflated. She dropped her burger into the box, her appetite gone. The voices of Gold and his customer were clear through the thin walls, but she couldn’t make out what they were saying. At least she could tell it was a man. The voice was too deep to be Regina’s, and that was a small relief. She needed time to think. There had to be some way to convince Gold that she loved him, and wanted him. There was no way for her to wake him without help. The only thing she could do was convince the man Rumple had become that he was loved. Very much.</p><p>He wore a red tie, after weeks of nothing but black. He’d been about to make a promise, <em> if she was good</em>. The same sort of promise Rumple knew would flip her stomach and leave an ache between her legs for the rest of the day. Somehow, Gold <em> knew</em>. Gold liked her, and it gave her a reason to hope that he might accept her feelings in return.</p><p>The bell rang again when the customer left, and the tap of Gold’s cane followed as he returned to her. She could do it. She’d shown the Dark One that she loved him. She could do the same with Mr. Gold.</p>
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<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It took her a week to decide what to do, and the same week to build up the courage to do it. There were plenty of things to help her, carefully put away in the bedroom they used to share. It was easy to sneak back in, when Gold was away in his shop, and pick out the pieces that had been Rumple’s favourite.</p><p>She dressed in their room, where her collar was hidden in her bedside table, and took one of his shirts from his closet. She chose one of the darker ones; a deep, midnight blue to contrast the yellow lace she wore beneath. Rumple liked her in lace; in soft and bright colours; in golds and yellows. It wasn’t too much of a stretch to think that Gold would enjoy the same. She was almost certain he would like her in <em> his </em> colour.</p><p>The last thing she added was the bullet pendant he’d returned to her. She’d worn it every day since, trying to garner a reaction from him, and it had worked. Every day, without fail, she’d caught him looking at her necklace.</p><p>She buzzed with anticipation when he came home; with the knowledge that he was just downstairs and about to see what she’d picked out for him. The front door slammed shut, and his cane clacked down the hall to his office. She followed the sound, lifting herself onto her tiptoes to keep her heels from giving her away. The stairs creaked in places, and the downstairs floorboards were almost impossible to walk on without making a sound, but she tried. It was enough to keep him from calling out to her, to comment on why she was home so early, or to ask her why she was tiptoeing through his house.</p><p>Her heart pounded. This was it. This was her one chance to show him, without a doubt, that she wanted him. She had one chance to get it right.</p><p>Taking a deep breath, Belle straightened her shoulders and knocked on the door.</p><p>“Mr. Gold?” she asked sweetly, turning the handle. She peeked inside and found him at his desk. He’d removed his blazer, and carefully draped it over the back of a loveseat. The gold of his arm garters peeked out from the folds of his black sleeves, and Belle smiled. She often saw Rumple like that -- without his blazer or tie, sometimes with his sleeves rolled up or his waistcoat unbuttoned -- but Gold hadn’t let her.</p><p>“You’re back already,” he commented, as blandly as he might comment on work, and he didn’t look up.</p><p>Belle huffed. She’d relied on him looking up the moment she entered the room, before she lost her nerve and backed out again. Instead, he continued with his work, deliberately writing in his ledger. He knew she was there. He knew she was waiting for him.</p><p>She stepped forward, letting her heels click softly across the floor.</p><p>“I decided to close early,” she said. He still didn’t look up.</p><p>“And why is that?”</p><p>“I had something I wanted to do.” Stopping in front of his desk, Belle plucked open the top few buttons of his shirt. “Look up.”</p><p>Sighing through his nose, Gold stopped writing and looked up. It was near impossible to hide the tremble from her hands when his eyes roamed over her, drinking in the sight of her in his shirt, but she tried. As sultry and smoothly as she could, Belle slowly rounded his desk; unpicking each button of his shirt, until he got a tantalising peek of the lingerie set beneath.</p><p>He said nothing as she let the shirt fall from her shoulders and perched herself on top of his desk. The deep blue slipped to reveal pale skin, and a lace bralette. It hid nothing of what was beneath the yellow, floral pattern, and Gold noticed. He noticed almost immediately, if his intake of breath was anything to go by. Belle didn’t have very big breasts, but Rumple had only ever reacted to her nakedness with awe, and Gold did the same.</p><p>His sights shifted down, from the bralette to the garter and panties and stockings, that hid just as little. Her intention couldn’t be any clearer, and once she’d pushed off his shirt and let him look his fill, she smiled and put her hand over his ledger. </p><p>“I missed you,” Belle said softly, so soft it was almost a whisper. His eyes fell on the collar around her neck.</p><p>Rumple and she had picked it out together. The biggest benefit of having memories of that world, was that he knew all sorts of fun things they could try. Picking out a collar for her, the white lace with little ribbon roses, was part of their exploration of this new world. If Rumple knew those things from his cursed memories, then Gold knew them, too. He was the full embodiment of that cursed alter ego, and he would certainly understand what a collar meant.</p><p>Some of the ribbon roses had pearl beads sewn inside them. They caught the light prettily, and Gold’s attention followed. He eyed the choker, before turning those eyes up to her face. She could see him thinking, gauging whether or not the collar meant what he thought it meant. She wasn’t sure how he could misunderstand, given what little else she wore, but this was still Rumple. He would draw lines to any number of conclusions before he let himself believe she wanted him. </p><p>When there was no further room for doubt, Gold set down his pen and leaned back. The leather of his chair squeaked, and Belle’s excitement rose to a near unbearable level. She needed him so badly, and his eyes were solely on her; on her legs, on her chest, on her face. She smiled.</p><p>“You miss the man I was,” he noted. “What is it about him that you miss so much?”</p><p>Belle shrugged. She didn’t want to think about that. There was too much about Rumple that she missed, and so much about him was still there in Gold. His mannerisms; the way he looked at her with those dark eyes; the smell of leather and cedarwood and cologne when he was close; they were all still there. It was strange to miss something that was still there.</p><p>“There’s a lot of things you don’t do that he did,” she settled on saying, eyes downcast.</p><p>“What am I not doing now?” Gold urged. “Spoiling you?” he suggested, stroking his hand up her stocking-covered thigh. “Fucking you?”</p><p>Her breath stuttered. Rumple had never spoken to her like that. He wouldn’t dare, but the coarseness of his words sent a warmth down her stomach and an ache between her legs. Rumple was careful with her, always, but even as he gently ran his hand up her leg, everything about Gold suggested that he would be rough with her if she let him. And she wanted to let him.</p><p>“Did we have a safe word?” he asked, curling a finger under the strap of her garter.</p><p>“Just the standard colours.” She swallowed and met his eyes. “Red, yellow, green.”</p><p>He nodded, a single bob of his head to show he understood.</p><p>“What would you say if I asked you to kneel?”</p><p>Belle licked her lips. Her heart pounded harder in her chest, and she was certain Gold somehow <em> knew </em> that. His thumb stroked lightly across her thigh, and his lips twitched into a barely concealed smirk.</p><p>“Green,” she said.</p><p>Sliding his hand higher, lightly skimming the curve of her waist and the side of her breast, Gold slipped his hand behind her neck and pulled her lower. She had to brace her hand on the arm of his chair, to keep herself from toppling into his lap as he drew her down for a kiss. It was the exact kind of kiss that Rumple would avoid. It was hard and messy, and more teeth than tongues, and something about it claimed ownership. She was his. If they did this, she belonged to him.</p><p>Belle was okay with that. She knew before she pulled back, teeth dragging against his lower lip, that she was okay with that. He belonged to her, too.</p><p>“Kneel for me, Belle,” he said gently, turning his chair to the side.</p><p>She slid off the desk, shivering with the thrill of his words through her, and knelt down between his feet. He regarded her for a moment; the sight she must have made knelt before him, in pretty yellow lace. His reaction was identical to Rumple’s. The unmistakable hunger in his eyes made it impossible for her to look away, and then he reached out. He stroked her cheek, with a tenderness that didn’t match that dark appetite, and she leaned into him.</p><p>“Have you done this many times?” he asked.</p><p>“Not many, no.”</p><p>His thumb stroked across her lower lip. “What a fool I’ve been.”</p><p>The heat he’d left in her cheeks dropped to her stomach when he took his hand away. It pooled there in a pleasant wave, as she watched him unfasten the front of his trousers. Her fingers itched to reach out and do it for him, but she kept her hands to herself, in her lap. </p><p>“Open,” he said, taking out his half-hard cock. Belle opened her mouth and leaned forward, looking up into his eyes. He smiled, and stroked her cheek again with his free hand. “Now remind me what you can do.”</p><p>Shuffling closer on her knees, Belle slipped the head of his cock into her mouth. She wanted to look him in the eyes when she did it, but the position made it awkward. It was at least enough to hear him, when she swirled her tongue around the head. His breaths came faster, his fingers slipped into her hair. It was the only sign he gave that she was affecting him as much as he was her.</p><p>Pressing her thighs together at the sound of his heavy breathing, Belle took him deeper into her mouth. She used her hands around the base of his cock, to make up for what she couldn’t reach, and hollowed her cheeks. Gold gasped. </p><p>“That’s it,” he encouraged, pulling her hair back from her face. He held it behind her head, with only a light pressure nudging her to take in more of him.</p><p>“Can you be good and keep your hands behind your back?” he wondered.</p><p>Belle tried to answer, to moan in agreement, and clasped her hands against her lower back.</p><p>“Very good,” he sighed, stroking her hair. “Good girl.”</p><p>She hummed and sucked him harder.</p><p>Her head bobbed back and forth in his lap. She pressed her tongue flat to the underside of his length, tasting the saltiness of him, and he seemed to like that. The groan he gave was quiet. She almost didn’t hear it over her own obscene sounds, but his hand tightening in her hair was unmistakable. Gold liked what she was doing. That fuelled the building need between her legs. She needed more. She needed the pressure of his hands or his tongue against her. He was so warm and thick in her mouth, she desperately wanted him inside her.</p><p>Fuelled by that fervour for <em> more </em> -- more of him, more of that fullness, more of that closeness to Rumple -- Belle pushed herself further. She pushed her head lower onto his cock and groaned at the sweet fullness of it.</p><p>He stopped her when she took him too far in and gagged. His hand in her hair pulled her back, and his cock slipped from her mouth. Belle panted, looking up at him with dazed eyes, and he brushed her hair from her forehead with the tenderness of a lover; as if he remembered doing it a dozen times before.</p><p>Then his hands left her, and Belle tried to lean in for her cock again.</p><p>“Stand up,” he instructed, a hand on her shoulder. “Stand opposite me and put your hands flat on the desk.”</p><p>Belle smiled at him and did as she was told. She rounded the desk and bent over, with her hands supporting her, and met his eyes. The new position gave him a lovely view of her breasts, and he looked at them unabashed, taking his time before he spoke again.</p><p>“Further forward.”</p><p>She slid her hands towards him, leaning lower and closer. Her necklace, the vibrator pendant he’d returned to her, swung forward and dangled from her neck. Gold caught it, sitting as casually as if he were still working. He removed the necklace without a word and held it up in front of her.</p><p>“Are you left or right handed?” he asked.</p><p>“Right.”</p><p>Giving a single nod, he tapped her left hand.</p><p>“Leave this hand on the desk,” he said, slipping the pendant into her right hand. “And use this on yourself.”</p><p>Her whole body still shook, dizzy and just on the edge of slipping into that blissful state that only Rumple had ever seen. She took the pendant, turned it on, and slipped it beneath her panties, between her legs. She tried to find just the right spot, the one that would make her come without fail and ease her ache, but Gold’s hand covered her left one, and she opened her eyes to look at him.</p><p>“Don’t move it,” he said firmly.</p><p>Her hand stilled. The urge to keep going, just to see what he would do, crept into the back of her mind. She pushed it away. She didn’t want to be bad, not this time. Belle wanted it to be his fingers teasing her, touching her. The thought of that alone was enough to bring her towards her climax. Rumple had watched her countless times, but she wanted him to see her again. She wanted to remind him what he did to her. She wanted to be good.</p><p>Gold’s fingers, instead of being pressed between her thighs, lightly stroked the back of her hand. Her eyes fluttered shut. The pendant pressed against her was just enough to tease, but his gentle touch and dark eyes, watching her intensely as she used the toy on herself, made it almost unbearable. She gasped, and Gold’s fingers curled around her wrist, feeling her racing pulse. </p><p>“That’s it,” he crooned. “Does that feel good?”</p><p>Belle nodded and whispered his name, and didn’t have time to think about the fact that she’d called him Gold.</p><p>“Are you close already?” he asked. </p><p>She keened, trying desperately not to press her hips forward against the toy. It would be enough to make her come, but it wouldn’t be <em> enough</em>.</p><p>“Not yet,” Gold said.</p><p>She whined, biting her lower lip.</p><p>“You’re doing so well. So beautiful,” he said, lowering his voice into a tone of wonder. “And apparently all mine.”</p><p>“Please,” she gasped.</p><p>“Look at me,” he said gently, and she did. She’d dropped onto her elbow at some point, and he hadn’t corrected her. It brought her face down closer to the desk, and he leaned towards her, lovingly stroking her hair. Belle moaned. “You’ve been so good,” he added, kissing her forehead. “You can come now.”</p><p>She didn’t need any more than that. Those four simple words, spoken in a gentle murmur, undid her. Belle cried out, pressing her cheek against his hand, and he soothed her. He muttered more things to her; filthy and sweet things in her ear as her body shook and her legs trembled. She thought she might fall. The cool wash of pleasure left her sated, heavy.</p><p>She dropped the necklace onto the desk and Gold switched it off. He didn’t care that it was wet from being pressed against her. Leaving it on the desk to be clean later, he stood up and walked around to join her. The desk kept her from falling down, and she was pliable in Gold’s arms when he lifted her and held her to his chest. </p><p>Trying to catch her breath, and caught in that wonderful, free state of mindless bliss, Belle leaned into him. She breathed him in, her nose pressed against his chest. He was still Rumple. He still smelled like Rumple and stroked her hair like Rumple, and looked after her in the same way Rumple did. Belle wrapped hugged him, and wondered if he realised he wasn’t using his cane.</p><p>If she was more alert herself, she might have realised he was unknowingly using magic. But she wasn’t. She made a distant note of it, and forgot about it the second Gold’s fingers pressed under her chin and tipped her head back.</p><p>“Sweetheart,” he whispered, and Belle smiled at him to show she was still with him. “Do you want to stop?”</p><p>She shook her head without pause and loosened her arms around him. “Not yet.”</p><p>He watched her, assuring himself that she was still cognate and more than capable of deciding when they stopped, and nodded in return. Carefully, he released her and slid his hands down to her hip.</p><p>“Shall we take these off?” he asked, slipping his fingers over the band of her lace panties.</p><p>Breathing heavily, Belle wet her lips and nodded fervently, shyly. She could still taste him.</p><p>He unclasped her stockings without looking, his eyes on her face. It came so naturally to him, as if a part of him remembered exactly how to undress her. He pushed down her panties and Belle wiggled her hips, letting them slide down to her ankles.</p><p>“I think we should leave the rest,” he decided, looking her up and down. Her whole body felt ablaze, excited and eager for what he might tell her to do next. “Be a good girl and straighten your stockings.”</p><p>Belle clipped them back on to her garter, and Gold turned away. He left her by his desk, still breathless and trembling, and sat himself on the old loveseat in the corner of the room. Rumple and she had used it once or twice. The red upholstery was worn, but very soft and comfortable for the positions they’d tried. Gold sat in the centre of it, appraising her slowly, and Belle knew exactly the position he’d chosen.</p><p>He nodded approvingly and lifted his hands, to about the height of his shoulders.</p><p>“Come here.”</p><p>Walking to him, her legs shook with the thrill of what they were about to do, after so many months without him. She put her palms to Gold’s and slipped her fingers between his.</p><p>“Put your knees either side of my hips.”</p><p>Following his instructions, Belle lifted her knees and used his hands to keep her balance. He held her firmly, keeping her steady as she knelt over him.</p><p>“When I tell you to, you’re going to sink down onto my cock. All the way.”</p><p>“Yes, sir,” Belle agreed, and froze. They hadn’t discussed names. Rumple and she had, and they’d tentatively slipped into it, depending on the scene. But then Gold smiled, and she wondered if Rumple’s fondness of that particular name had come from his memories of being Mr. Gold.</p><p>Releasing one of her hands, Gold took the base of his cock and lined it up with her wet folds. Belle bit her lip, trying to keep her breathing steady.</p><p>“But you’re not to move again until I tell you to,” he warned. She nodded eagerly, and he raised an eyebrow. “I need a colour, Belle.”</p><p>“Green.”</p><p>He smiled. “Sit down.”</p><p>Gleefully, Belle lowered herself onto his cock. She’d gone for too long without him. A sigh of happiness and longing left her as she took him in, filling her until they were joined entirely. Her fingers tightened in his, but he kept her hands exactly where they were, holding her in place. She desperately wanted to move. Even if she only rolled her hips, she wanted to feel him moving inside her. Having him there, unmoving, was almost as bad as seeing Rumple every day and not being about to touch him at all.</p><p>Gold watched her keenly. His eyes missed very little, and while she was good and didn’t move, he caught the slight frown between her brows. The way her eyes fluttered shut in concentration finally gave her away.</p><p>“Is there something wrong?” he asked, and the level of calm and control in his voice made her look at him. How did he manage it?</p><p>“<em>Please</em>,” she whispered, searching his face.</p><p>“That isn’t how we ask for what we want,” he reminded her gently, almost playfully. “Please <em> what</em>?”</p><p>She panted. “Please, sir. I need to move.”</p><p>“There we go.” Lightly tugging on her hands, Gold pulled her over him and kissed her. Belle hummed against his lips and smiled, even when he leaned back. “You don’t need to ask for permission again. Not when you’ve been so good.”</p><p>Happily, Belle rolled her hips around his cock slowly, almost painfully so, and looked him in the eye as she did it. All of her senses threatened to overwhelm her. She felt him moving inside her, felt the warmth of his hands in hers. The sound of his voice, of his ragged breathing, filled her ears. He surrounded her, and she wanted to do the same to him.</p><p>It took him effort to hold still and keep his control. His jaw tightened. His hands held hers tighter. They stopped each other from doing more. She wanted to touch him, and she could imagine how he would want to grasp her hips and guide her; make her take him faster. She didn’t need his guidance to do that. Lifting herself up his length, Belle dug her knees into the sofa and drove herself down onto him harder. Faster. It drew a groan from him, and Belle smiled happily, biting her lip as she did it again.</p><p>Gold’s eyes narrowed, but he couldn’t hold back his own smirk.</p><p>“Look at you,” he growled. Belle shivered. “You ride my cock so well.” </p><p>His words worked as well as any careful, skilled caress. They went straight to her centre, adding to the building ache where they joined. She bit her lip harder, eyes falling shut.</p><p>“So talented. So eager to please,” he marvelled. “That feels good, doesn’t it?”</p><p>Belle nodded blissfully, taking his cock as fast as she could. Her hips angled in just the right way to make her whimper every time he entered her. She desperately wanted to keep up the pace she’d set, the pace that had made him moan. Even as her legs shook with the effort and all coherence left her.</p><p>Something pressed against her hand, and Belle opened her eyes to see Gold kissing her knuckles.</p><p>“Keep going.” His voice had lowered to something gruff; the tone of a man who was just barely hanging on to control. Belle’s mouth fell open, her lip freed from her teeth. </p><p>A tension built deep inside her, pulling taut.</p><p>“Oh, gods--” His name played on the tip of her tongue, promising to spill free as her climax approached. She had to be vocal in other ways to stop it from escaping; moaning and cooing. It repeated over and over in her mind, matching the rhythm of her thrusts against him, until finally it broke free.</p><p>“<em>Rumple</em>.” Her climax washed over her with a cry. Gold followed, all attempts at calm and control forgotten. He filled her and she gasped, trying to rock her hips through the last waves of her orgasm. </p><p>Weeks of trying to make him believe they were a couple, and all she’d had to do was put on her collar.</p><p>Sated and exhausted, Belle collapsed against his chest. She tucked her hands behind him, between his back and the sofa. It was too soon to pull away and return to reality. She clung to him, pressed her face to his neck and breathed him in. In that moment of quiet, holding one another, him still inside her and his cologne in her nose, it was easy to pretend that he was still Rumple.</p><p>His hands slid around her back, over yellow lace and her flushed skin. Her heart nearly broke. She held him tighter and pressed a kiss to his throat.</p><p>“Shall we get you cleaned up?” Gold offered.</p><p>Belle sighed and nodded. “Mhm.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They were sharing a bedroom again. Nothing had happened since that afternoon in his office, but Belle had a strong suspicion that he was waiting for her invitation. He was still Rumple. He wouldn’t make a move until she did. They still met regularly for lunch, but even that was initiated by Belle.</p><p>Ruby had suggested a number of things. She remembered Gold, they’d both been part of the curse, but she couldn’t tell Belle anything she hadn’t already seen for herself. He liked collecting wealth and power. He owned a large number of properties in Storybrooke. He collected a house and shop full of trinkets and heirlooms, and he wanted more.</p><p>He liked his <em> things</em>.</p><p>It was tempting to wear her collar all the time, just to recapture his attention, and let him know that it was welcome.</p><p>She left for Granny’s at lunchtime, clutching her purse close to her. It still hid the map inside, and she still didn’t know where the map led to; or what it led to. She’d tried reading about map-making, but none of her books offered up any clues on how to read the map-less scribbles. She suspected the page was supposed to fit over a map, but finding Rumple’s original map was proving difficult. If he would let her spend more than just lunchtimes in his shop, unsupervised, she might be able to find it. </p><p>A plan started to form in her mind, distracting her. She could offer to help him with inventory, and point out that she’d helped him before he lost his memories. If that didn’t work, she could always sneak in when he wasn’t--</p><p>“Belle.”</p><p>Belle stopped, just as a hand tentatively touched her arm.</p><p>“What are you doing here?” she asked without turning.</p><p>“I wanted to speak to you.” Her father stepped around her and blocked her path. He looked haggard, his clothes wrinkled and face sunken, as if he hadn’t slept for days. Belle pressed down her rising concern; the sudden need to ask how he was and offer help. They hadn’t spoken for weeks because of what he did. She couldn’t go back now.</p><p>She was still close to Gold’s shop, and the library. He must have been waiting for her to leave. That thought alone was almost as frustrating as having her plans interrupted, or the smile he gave her like nothing had happened. As if he hadn’t kidnapped her. </p><p>“It’s my lunch break,” she said shortly, nodding towards Granny’s. He blocked her view of it, but it wasn’t far. The diner and the library were both on Main Street. </p><p>Moe nodded, eyeing her, and Belle clutched her purse a little tighter. </p><p>“I heard what happened,” he commented, not needing an answer. He already knew. It was exactly why he’d waited for her and stopped her. “You don’t have to stay with him anymore, Belle. Come home with me.”</p><p>“<em>No</em>,” she insisted. “And not just because I <em> want </em> to stay with him. I can’t go with you after what you tried to do.”</p><p>“You’d rather stay with <em> him</em>? The man doesn’t even remember you.” She was sure he hadn’t said it to hurt her, but it did. As far as her father was concerned, Rumple forgetting her was a good thing. It wasn’t something that would make her heart heavy or her stomach drop. But it did.</p><p>“You don’t know Gold,” he continued. “You don’t know what he was like.”</p><p>“He was <em> cursed</em>.”</p><p>“He was a cruel man. He can’t be trusted.”</p><p>She swallowed the lump in her throat and lifted her chin. “Neither can you.”</p><p>Stepping around him, Belle hurried down the street, grasping her bag and pushing back the rush of emotions. She didn’t have time to dwell on her father and what he had tried to do to her. She didn’t have time to let herself be angry at him. He still wanted her to return to him, and ignored what he had done to her. She would have lost her memories, just like Rumple. But Rumple had cursed memories to fall back on, Belle had nothing but a vague knowledge of the room she was in. Her father would have sent her back to that, just to take away her autonomy.</p><p>She walked into Granny’s without looking back.</p><hr/><p>There was something hazily familiar about the woman in his shop. It itched at the back of his mind. He’d seen her before, but he couldn’t recall where. It was only when she smiled at him, after the door opened and the bell rang, that distant memories trickled back to him.</p><p><em> Regina’s mother</em>, one thought reminded him. Perhaps his memory was worse than he’d thought, and he’d forgotten more than just the last few months. Cora Mills wasn’t a woman anyone was likely to forget, but he had, somehow, and now the memories had come back to him.</p><p>It was a pity the same hadn’t happened with Belle.</p><p>Cora wore an unusual dress, a full-length blue thing that danced somewhere between overdressed and ridiculous. She didn’t seem to notice how out of place she looked. She smiled, and enquired about his lost memories.</p><p>“How terrible,” she’d said. “I just had to see for myself.”</p><p>It seemed easier to make her believe than her daughter, that his memories were really gone. She accepted it quickly and, covering his hand with hers over the shop’s counter, asked him about his stock. She was looking for something in particular; something very special. She described it as an antique dagger, and Gold nodded, slipping his hand from beneath hers. He knew the one.</p><p>“Wonderful,” she said, smiling canny and hollow.</p><p>“It’s an unusual thing,” he commented. “What do you--”</p><p>The bell rang, interrupting him, and Belle hurried inside with their lunch and her purse hugged to her chest. A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth despite himself, and Cora’s smile faded.</p><p>“It appears you have another customer,” she said, half-turning towards Belle. </p><p>A discomfort weighed in his chest. He didn’t want her to look at Belle. He wanted to keep her as far from Belle as possible.</p><p>“She works here,” Gold found himself saying, lifting a hand to beckon Belle closer. She came over to him, eyeing and sidestepping Cora. Her eyes darted between the two of them, and Gold offered her a brief smile. “Take those into the back room,” he said. “There’s a box back there, in the cabinet, about so big. Could you bring it here?”</p><p>Her eyes darted to Cora, who still smiled but seemed to have given up on the attempt to make it an honest one.</p><p>“Of course, Mr. Gold,” Belle said, and the moment she disappeared behind the curtain, Gold felt the weight lift.</p><p>She came back with the box, but no dagger. The velvet lining it had sat on was bare. She held the box out for both of them to see, the lid in her other hand. Her eyes met Cora’s, and there was something in that look that Gold couldn’t quite understand; something close to a challenge.</p><p>“You must have sold it,” she said gently, but her eyes didn’t leave Cora</p><p>Gold frowned and took the empty box from her. That box had sat on the top shelf of the cabinet for as long as he could remember. </p><p>“Well, I can see you have your hands full here,” Cora said, pulling his attention from the empty box to her false smile. “With your pretty assistant.”</p><p>Belle nodded and mirrored Cora’s smile. It looked all wrong on her face, that pretty face smiling with cold eyes. Gold watched her in confused silence, as she rounded the counter and held a hand up to the shop door.</p><p>“He does,” she said. “And we’re about to close for lunch.”</p><p>Cora ignored Belle, and turned her eyes on him.</p><p>“She’s a little young, isn’t she?” she asked with an exaggerated whisper, as if she didn’t want to upset a child. Then she turned and left without another word, and Belle returned to his side.</p><p>They watched Cora leave in silence. Neither of them said anything until the silence threatened to turn awkward, and Gold dropped his eyes to the box.</p><p>“Who was that?” Belle asked.</p><p>“The mayor’s mother.” He hadn’t thought about her in years. It was almost as if he’d forgotten about her entirely, until she walked into the shop and the memories came back. They’d had a brief, torrid relationship, and now here they were. And here Belle was, staring at him like she knew everything and more.</p><p>She put her hand to the side of his head and brushed her thumb across his cheek. The cold she’d shown to Cora had disappeared, and in its place was a gentle warmth. She leaned up onto the tips of her toes and kissed him, with a soft, lingering press of her lips.</p><p>“Come sit with me,” she said, taking his hand.</p><p>They walked together into the back room, without saying anything more about Cora. His unease had disappeared entirely once he sat at the bench and Belle pulled two sandwiches from the diner’s bag.</p><p>“No burgers?” he teased. Belle offered him a smile and lightly shrugged.</p><p>“I don’t have much of an appetite.”</p><p>Gold frowned. She didn’t notice. Setting down their drinks, she sat beside him and slid her sandwich closer. She didn’t normally sit beside him. They sat opposite one another, usually, unless he was using work as an excuse to keep his distance. Then he would sit at his desk.</p><p>“Is something wrong?” he asked.</p><p>She didn’t answer immediately. She took a bite of her sandwich, a ham salad, and a sip of her iced tea; both just an excuse to keep from talking. He knew it well. He did the same thing. Then she glanced at him, and he knew she wasn’t going to tell him the whole truth.</p><p>“You’re wearing a red tie,” she stated simply, but there was meaning there. There was something he couldn’t quite grasp in the way she looked at him; willing him to understand and tell her that he remembered something.</p><p>Gold sipped his drink and nodded. He knew her expressions well enough now to guess what she meant.</p><p>“I presume we had a code?”</p><p>She nodded, smiling hopefully. “We did.”</p><p>“And what did a red tie mean?”</p><p>Biting her lip, Belle's eyes fell onto her plate. He didn’t know how many times they’d been together before their scene in his study. He got the impression that they’d regularly had sex before his memory loss, but even now, a pink tinge burned in her cheeks.</p><p>“That you wanted to act out a scene,” she explained, picking at her sandwich. “When we got home.”</p><p>He smirked. “Why wait?”</p><p>She raised an eyebrow at him, but amusement pulled at her lips. She had to press them together to keep back the smile.</p><p>“I think your visit from Regina’s mother might have killed the mood.”</p><p>Gold nodded. “Noted.”</p><p>They shared a smile, and Belle returned to her food. There was still a distance to her, whatever played on her mind had only been exacerbated by Cora’s presence. She wouldn’t admit to that. She ate in silence, and Gold followed her lead. He didn’t speak again until the quiet began to make him uncomfortable.</p><p>“Was it really empty?” he asked, nodding at the box in front of them.</p><p>She swallowed a bite of sandwich and dusted off her hands.</p><p>“The dagger wasn’t in there,” she said simply, without looking at him or the box.</p><p>He frowned. Gold had learned quickly, after the initially awkwardness of relearning their relationship, that Belle was a terrible liar.</p><p>“Do you know where it is?” he asked, watching her closely.</p><p>She shook her head and glanced at him, finishing off the last bit of her sandwich.</p><p>He believed that much, but she still knew something. She avoided looking him in the eye. She used eating as a distraction from answering. </p><p>Finishing up his own food, Gold didn’t try to get more out of her than that. They’d stayed quiet. Belle stared at her bag and waited for him, and started to gather up their plates when he was done.</p><p>“I wish I’d bought dessert,” she sighed, reaching for the diner’s bag.</p><p>He should take her out for dessert, he thought. Or a proper dinner. Standing from the bench, Gold grasped his cane and imagined himself asking her out. He was sure she’d say ‘yes’, their daily meals in his shop were all her idea. She was very insistent on seeing him during the day. Watching her leave the bench, he pictured taking her somewhere nice, far nicer than the diner or anywhere else Storybrooke had to offer. She could order whatever she liked, whatever desert she wanted. Belle had a sweet tooth. She could order something sweet, with chocolate or cream or frosting.</p><p>Belle paused. She held the diner’s bag over the trash can, but she didn’t drop it in. She tested the weight of it, turning towards him with a confused little frown.</p><p>Reaching into the bag, she pulled out a box. It was the sort Granny used to box desserts, but Belle stared at it as if she hadn’t expected it to be there. She returned to the bench and opened the box on the table top. Her frown only deepened when she found two slices of chocolate cake inside, with chocolate and cream frosting. Gold didn’t know the diner sold chocolate cake.</p><p>“Belle?”</p><p>She looked at him with round eyes, clutching the cake box in both hands. She seemed to think he had something to do with its appearance. If only. He was beginning to understand why he’d fallen for her charms in the first place. She wasn’t a gold digger like he’d initially thought. She was bright and wonderful, and he’d do anything for her if it meant she looked at him like that. A sweet smile bloomed across her face, and she carefully placed each slice onto their plates.</p><p>“Come sit back down,” she said, and Gold was too confused himself to disagree.</p><p>He sat beside her, and she scooted closer, pressing her thigh against his. They ate in a more amicable quiet than before. Belle’s furtive glances, while still trying to avoid meeting his eyes were gone. Now it was as if she couldn’t stop looking at him, and smiling.</p><hr/><p>The pleased smiles and shy glances continued into the evening, when they were home and getting ready for bed. That would take some getting used to. Sharing a bed with Belle French was almost as unbelievable as him waking up beside her each morning, and she smiled at him every time.</p><p>Gold found her in their room, holding a piece of paper over one of her books. She had undressed and got into bed while he hid in his study. It still surprised him how comfortable she was wearing such flimsy, silk nightgowns around him. They covered almost nothing, and she didn’t care. She wore a new colour every night, in soft pastels or vibrant blues and yellows. She seemed to enjoy colours, and she always looked at him when she revealed the colour for that night.</p><p>He watched her for as long as he could, in her soft blue negligee. She bit her lip, turning the page this way and that, before she realised he was there.</p><p>“What’s that?” he teased, stepping into the room.</p><p>“Just something I found today,” she said lightly, almost too lightly, but Gold didn’t want to push her anymore. She folded the page carefully and slipped it into her bedside drawer with the book.</p><p>Rounding the bed, Gold set aside his cane and slipped under the sheets beside her. Belle’s troubles eased a little once he was there. She stopped chewing her lip. Her brow softened. Gold found himself smiling at her. A thought had occurred to him since lunch, and stayed with him as he undressed in his study. It had only been a silly notion, not something he seriously intended to do, but seeing Belle smiling at him made him say the words.</p><p>“How would you feel about me wearing the same tie tomorrow?” he offered. “The red one.”</p><p>Her lips parted, and she gave a gentle nod, leaning towards him. “Good. I like that one.”</p><p>“As do I.”</p><p>They settled down beside one another, and Belle reached across to turn off the lamp. He daren’t move any closer to her. Whatever contact they did have was always initiated by Belle. It seemed better to keep it that way. Arranging a scene was easier. There were set rules and boundaries. Holding her, kissing her, they were all things they hadn’t agreed on.</p><p>Belle scooted closer and lay on her side. He stayed on his back, staring through the darkness at the ceiling.</p><p>“Goodnight,” she sighed.</p><p>“Goodnight, sweetheart.”</p><p>She lay still, so still he suspected she was holding her breath, before moving closer. Pressing herself to his side, Belle threw her arm over his chest and her leg over his thighs. She held him close to her, and Gold willed his shoulders to relax; his whole body not to be so stiff. He gingerly wrapped his arm around her waist, and Belle pressed her face against his chest.</p><p>Gold had always struggled to sleep at night. He didn’t feel the effects of it during the day, but no matter how little he slept one night, he was never tired the following night.</p><p>He lay still, feeling the slow rise and fall of Belle’s chest against him. After a while, he thought she’d fallen asleep, but then she lifted her head. Even with his eyes closed, he knew she was looking at him. She didn’t move more than that, and Gold didn’t give any indication that he was still awake.</p><p>“Rumple?” she whispered.</p><p>That strange name again. She’d shouted that at the end of their scene, and he hadn’t wanted to push her to ask what she meant. Now he understood it to be some sort of nickname.</p><p>She lightly touched his cheek, kissed his temple, and lay back down.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
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    <p>Belle couldn’t wait for the day to be over. She had her map to distract her for most of the morning. While people came in and out of the library, she sat in her office and flipped through the book from Gold’s shop. His dagger wasn’t there, which meant that Rumple had hidden it somewhere else before his trip out of town. The book he’d left in its place was yet another clue, one she suspected he’d intended for her to find.</p><p>She’d flicked through page after page, until she came to the very back. Several of the pages had contained maps of the local area, mostly the forest and coast. None of them looked as if they would fit the partial map she’d found in the library, until she reached the map at the back. It covered two pages, with a detailed layout of Main Street and the surrounding roads.</p><p>It had all been enough to distract her from what would happen when she got home, but she’d expected more than a map of the road they worked on. She pulled out her partial map and lay it over the top, but the abstract lines meant nothing to her, and the X lay directly over the top of the library.</p><p>The dagger couldn’t be in the library. She’d been through all of the shelves and books; reorganising and returning and dusting. The dagger couldn’t be there. Rumple wouldn’t have left it in a public place.</p><p>Sighing, Belle slipped the map and book into her purse, and left for lunch. It was that that really made the rest of the day unbearable. Without the maps to distract her, and the puzzle of where he’d hidden the dagger, Belle could only think about Gold. She’d watched him put on his red tie that morning, and he’d given no indication that he knew what he was doing to her.</p><p>Lunch was just the same.</p><p>They sat and ate in near silence, with only small talk to fill the gaps. She glanced at him several times, but he sat at his desk, working. He ignored her as studiously as he had that morning, in favour of repairing an old pocket watch.</p><p>“Come back here after work,” Gold said, peering through a magnifying glass at the inner workings of the watch. “Lock the door and flip the sign.”</p><p>Belle put her hand to her neck, where her choker normally sat. Her heart beat a little faster.</p><p>“Yes, sir.”</p><p>His eyes, for the first time, flicked up from his work. He allowed her a smile, before returning to the watch.</p><p>“Good girl.”</p><p>She had hoped for a teaser of what he had planned for their evening, or a kiss, or an early surprise scene before she returned to work. His teasing, a promise of something to come, made the anticipation worse.</p><p>He really intended to make her wait.</p><p>Nothing succeeded in distracting her for the rest of the afternoon. She checked books out and shelved those returned to her. She took another look at the book and map; which gave her no more new information than it had that morning. By the time closing came around, she couldn’t wait to lock up and hurry across the street.</p><p>The shop front was quiet, empty. She’d been hoping for him to greet her at the door, but he hadn’t. He wanted her to wait as long as possible.</p><p>Flipping the sign, Belle locked the door and took her collar from her purse. She’d been tempting to put it on at lunch, or to wear it for the rest of the afternoon, but it felt too private to let other people see it. She slipped it on then, in the quiet of Rumple’s shop, with the door locked, and fastened it with shaking hands.</p><p>Trying to keep her steps steady and unhurried, Belle made her way to the back room. She didn’t announce herself; he would have heard the bell, and her heels clicking across the shop floor. She walked straight in, let the curtain fall behind her, and waited.</p><p>He didn’t look up.</p><p>Gold sat at his desk, working as if she wasn’t there and they didn’t have an arrangement. The watch had gone, and in its place sat a ledger and a pile of other books. It was a jumble of the shop’s inventory, its incoming and outgoing expenses, and the books he only used for noting rents and loans.</p><p>He still wore the red tie, but everything about his uninterested demeanour, the way he sat straight backed and studiously working, made her worry that she’d misunderstood. At least he’d removed his blazer. She caught a glimpse of his sleeve garters, and she could at least appreciate the sight of him like that.</p><p>“Mr. Gold?”</p><p>“I’m working.”</p><p>She frowned, shaking her head. “But I thought--”</p><p>He stopped writing and looked up. She tried not to fidget, to hold still as his eyes slowly trailed up her legs, over her chest, and found her face. Her heart pounded. She wanted to go to him and hide all at once. Then he quirked an eyebrow in challenge, and she understood.</p><p>This was the scene.</p><p>“Did you think I would drop everything to pleasure you?” he asked.</p><p>She bit her lip. The real answer was that she had, but she couldn’t tell him that, and she couldn’t tell him she hadn’t. It would be a lie.</p><p>A smile ticked at the corner of Gold’s mouth and he looked down, returning to his work.</p><p>“Have a seat, Miss French,” he said, indicating the bed to the side of the room. “I won’t be long.”</p><p>Unsteady with anticipation and the thrill of his chosen scene, Belle tried not to hurry to the bed. She sat herself carefully, smoothed out her skirt, and waited for his next instruction.</p><p>None came.</p><p>He continued to work, pointedly ignoring her while he calculated and filled out ledgers. The faint scratch of his pen filled the building silence. A clock ticked in the corner; one that looked suspiciously like it had come straight from the Dark Castle. Belle’s eyes flicked back to Rumple. She normally had no trouble being patient, unless she was curious about something. Then her patience left her. This was similar to that, but she was less curious and more determined. She didn’t intend to sit and wait a moment longer. He’d had all day to work, and her work had been interrupted by her <em> need </em> for him. She needed him. She needed that moment. She needed to forget everything that had happened.</p><p>Restless, Belle stood up. He didn’t look away from his work, but he also didn’t tell her to sit back down.</p><p>Heart thumping in her chest, she strode up to his desk and stood at his side.</p><p>“Did I tell you to move?” Gold asked, still writing away in his ledger.</p><p>She hadn’t thought through what she would do when she reached him. She’d been expecting him to give her some sort of instruction, or to insist that she sat back down.</p><p>“No, sir.”</p><p>She could only assume that he didn’t actually want her to wait. He wanted her to be bad.</p><p>Hoping that she was right, and trying to be as enticing as she could, Belle jumped up onto his desk. She sat beside his book, almost on top of the left pages, and waited for him to look at her. He didn’t. Gold continued to work unhindered, ignoring her skirt brushing against his notes. Belle huffed, looking around for some other form of distraction, when his warm palm covered her knee.</p><p>She held her breath, watching as he continued to work and his left hand slid up her thigh. His fingers slipped just beneath her skirt, teasing her, and stopped. He didn’t look at her once. His pen didn’t leave his ledger. Gold wrote, ignoring her excited breathing, and absently stroked her skin.</p><p>His fingers touched just above the top of her stocking. Belle wanted him to pull the stocking down. She wanted him to slip his hand just a little higher, to give her instructions and everything else she’d been fantasising about all day. But he did nothing. Occasionally he paused to double check a note, or to calculate something, but his hand on her leg remained the same. Stroking. Teasing.</p><p>Belle wiggled. She parted her legs and lifted her knee; desperate for friction; desperate for his hand to go higher. He squeezed her thigh.</p><p>“Behave.”</p><p>She stilled, but not because he told her to. That simple word, the curt, gruff tone of it, sent a shiver through her that nearly took her breath away. Testing him, she moved her leg again, bumping his chair, and he looked up. He tried for an air of annoyance, displeased with her going against his instructions, but something danced in his dark eyes. He was enjoying this as much as she was.</p><p>“I see what mood you’re in today,” he commented, slipping his hand further under her skirt.</p><p>Belle gripped the edge of the desk. She’d chosen a specific lingerie set that day, just like their previous session, in anticipation of his reaction. Rumple had enjoyed this one for the same reason as the last. White, floral lace lined the edges of the soft, pale yellow set. It was pretty and delicate, and comfortable enough for her to wear to work.</p><p>She wanted him to see it; to recognise it or to enjoy it as much as he once had.</p><p>Gold ran his fingers along the lace flowers, down between her legs. He applied no pressure, and she did her best to keep still, but having his hand there only fuelled her desperate need.</p><p>“I see you enjoy interrupting my work,” he tsked, gently pressing against her wet folds through the lace. “Needy little thing.”</p><p>Her mouth fell open with a soft gasp.</p><p>“I’ve been waiting all day,” she reasoned.</p><p>“Have you?” His fingers pressed a little firmer. Belle nodded. “Poor thing. How I've neglected you.”</p><p>He took his hand away and Belle huffed.</p><p>“Sit here,” Gold said, moving aside the ledger to make a space for her in front of his chair.</p><p>She shuffled across and placed her heels either side of his lap. Gold nodded approvingly, and ran his hand up her calf in a painfully slow line.</p><p>“Very good,” he muttered.</p><p>He was precise with everything he did. She used to watch Rumple, and now she watched Gold, while he tinkered away with something delicate in his shop. All of his deals, all of his plans, were carefully laid with an eye for every detail. He was the same with her. He watched the trail of his hand, inspecting the line of her stockings, making sure they were straight. His thumb hooked under her skirt and pushed it higher.</p><p>There was a pause, when he first saw her lace panties. Belle had to bite her lip to keep herself from smiling. It didn’t work. His eyes flicked up to her face, to the way her lip pinched between her teeth, and her dark and sparkling eyes.</p><p>“Let’s take these off,” he said, unclipping her stockings from the garter belt. “And then you can tell me what you wanted.”</p><p>She lifted her hips, digging her heels into the chair, and let him pull off her panties. Her thoughts ran through every image, every little thing she’d wanted him to do to her. The thought of it, of knowing <em> something </em> would happen once he put on that red tie, had set her mind racing. There was too much to share. She had to settle on just one fantasy, while Gold’s hands returned to her legs and parted them.</p><p>He kissed her knee and looked at her, waiting.</p><p>“At lunch,” she began, leaning back. “I wanted you to touch me.”</p><p>“With my hands?”</p><p>“And your mouth,” she admitted, panting. “But mostly I--” He lifted her leg onto his shoulder. “Mostly I wanted you to have me right here.”</p><p>“In the shop?” His breath fanned against her centre and Belle gripped the desk. She tried so hard to keep her hands to herself, even as his own slid up her leg and his fingers pressed to her folds.</p><p>“<em>Yes</em>. Yes, sir.”</p><p>“Insatiable thing,” he hummed, teasing her with only his fingertips. “How did you want me to have you?”</p><p>Slowly, careful of her reaction, he slipped a finger inside her, followed by a second. She sighed happily and dropped her head back. <em> Finally.  </em></p><p>“Belle?”</p><p>“Over the counter.” The words left her in a quick stream, free of embarrassment. There was no need to feel embarrassed. His eyes darkened, and he added another finger.</p><p>Belle gasped. The touch was slow, gently working in and out of her,  but it was just enough to ease the ache that had grown inside her all day. She canted her hips against his hand, and he pressed his other to her stomach, holding her in place.</p><p>“Keep talking,” he encouraged, lowering his face. “You paint such a pretty picture.”</p><p>“When I came into the shop... The way you looked at me--” Belle broke off, struggling to find the words and to catch her breath. Gold used his tongue on her, and sucked. He hummed and curled his fingers, adding to the teasingly slow licks at her clit.</p><p>Belle’s head hit the desk with a thud. Quiet moans left her, encouraging him to give her more, and he did. His tongue worked her with more certainty, reacting to each sound she made and the way her hips lifted to him when he hit just the right spot.</p><p>She shook her head, trying to remember what she was saying.</p><p>“I wanted you to take me,” she tried again, sliding her fingers into his soft hair. “On the counter. Right there!”</p><p>The thought of her own fantasies were nothing compared to what his tongue did to her. Belle tipped her head back, gasping. He brought her closer and closer to the brink. Rumple had done this to her before, and neither of them held back. He devoured her, growing more sure of himself with each cry and keen he pulled from her. And Belle was thankful for the more explicit words he’d taught her.</p><p>Gold’s hand gripped her thigh, encouraging her to keep going.</p><p>“I wanted... you to bend me over and-- <em> fuck </em> … fuck me.” She arched her back, reaching. “So I… <em> Please</em>.”</p><p>It didn’t take much more for him to tip her over the edge. Distantly, Belle wondered if it was muscle memory, or a spark of memory peaking through the curse. He seemed to know <em> exactly </em> what to do; how to flick his tongue and suck to make her scream and tremble.</p><p>She collapsed against the desk, limp and panting, and Gold lifted his head to look at her. Belle closed her eyes and basked in the moment. Until he spoke, he could be Rumple. It was Rumple moving between her legs, standing from his office chair to lean over her. It was Rumple whose head blocked the light shining against her eyelids.</p><p>His hand touched her cheek.</p><p>“Look at me, sweetheart,” he said gently. Belle sighed blissfully and opened her eyes. “Do you still want that?”</p><p>She wanted a great many things, but in that moment she knew the one thing he was offering. She murmured her answer, tilting her head into his palm.</p><p>“I need to hear you say it.”</p><p>“Yes,” she said. “Green.” </p><p>Moving his hands lower, Gold plucked at the buttons of her shirt. Slowly. One-by-one. Belle watched him intently, her chest still heaving. She was sated, but she wanted more. She wanted more of <em> him</em>. His fingers worked nimbly at the top and pushed it aside to reveal the matching gold lace of her bra.</p><p>Belle bit her lip and smiled. There was a spark of something there. She wasn’t sure if it was recognition or appreciation, but she’d take it. He ran his thumb around the curve of her breast, tender and thoughtful, feeling the soft lace beneath his hand. He drew a delicate line upwards, from the flowers on her bra to the roses on her choker. Belle’s eyes locked on his as he stroked the white lace, curving his fingers around the side of her neck.</p><p>Her skin flushed, heated by his touch.</p><p>“Do you think about this often?” he asked, stroking his thumb across her throat.</p><p>Belle nodded. “I think about you.”</p><p>“Oh?” His eyes searched her face in a way that was so close to Rumple she could have cried. He was looking for deceit, but hoping to find sincerity.</p><p>Swallowing the lump in her throat, she lifted her hand to his cheek and smiled.</p><p>“Do you think about me?” she asked in return.</p><p>Gold said nothing. His eyes flicked away, shutting her out. He wanted her to tell him how she really felt, but that would mean having to admit his own feelings, and Gold wouldn’t do that; not with Rumple just beneath the surface.</p><p>Before he could pull away, Belle cupped his other cheek and kissed him. She kissed him until he relaxed into her; until his uncertainties were forgotten.</p><p>He broke the kiss with a soft smack of their lips, and pressed another to her cheek.</p><p>“Follow me,” he murmured in her ear.</p><p>Gold pulled away and Belle sat up. Offering his hand to help her down from the desk, he took up his cane and blazer, and led her into the front of the shop. He didn’t seem to mind that she kept a hold of his hand.</p><p>The shop was dark now. The afternoon was getting late, just on the cusp of becoming evening. There wouldn’t be many people around, but she still watched the open blinds as Gold led her to the counter at the head of the shop; the one he always stood behind to conduct his business.</p><p>“Straighten your stockings,” he said. Belle bent to straighten the line and clip them back to her garter belt, while Gold cleared the top of the counter.</p><p>“Bend over,” he said, as calmly as he spoke to her over lunch. Belle herself didn’t feel calm. Her heart beat too fast. Her whole body hummed with the afterglow of her last orgasm, and the excitement of being with him in his shop.</p><p>She turned her back to him and bent forward. Her elbows rested on the cool wood, her thighs pressed against the glass backing.</p><p>Gold stayed close behind her, his warmth at her back, and smoothed the same hand around her backside.</p><p>“Feet further apart,” he said, lifting her skirt over her hips. Belle did as he said and waited. “What lovely heels. They make you just the right height.”</p><p>He moved away from her, and she had to fight the urge to look back and see what he was doing. He moved, his cane tapping with him, and then she heard the clink of his belt buckle. Her stomach dropped pleasantly.</p><p>“Ready?” Gold asked, standing behind her again.</p><p>Belle nodded emphatically. “Yes, sir.”</p><p>“Lean back.”</p><p>With his hand on her hip, guiding her, Belle slowly pushed herself backwards. His cock met her, sliding inside her gradually.</p><p>“That’s it,” Gold encouraged. His thumb stroked her hip bone, soothing her. “All the way.”</p><p>She pushed back with a gasp, and took in his full length.</p><p>Pressing her hands against the countertop, Belle tried to steady her breathing and kept herself still. She couldn’t move until he told her to, and the anticipation of that made her all the more desperate to move. He filled her so nicely.</p><p>“I want you to work for it,” Gold said, clasping her hips. “Remind me how good you are.”</p><p>She swayed forward on her heels, until his cock nearly slid out of her, and pushed back down. The leisurely rocking was almost unbearable, but it made Gold groan and Belle herself trembled; enjoying the feel of having him inside her again. She could still pretend that everything was okay. Everything was as it should be and he knew exactly who she was. His touches were so kind and loving, she wanted to believe that for as long as she could.</p><p>Falling into the rhythm, Belle rocked herself against him, forgetting everything else. She was still so sensitive. Even the slightest movement along his length made her gasp.</p><p>“That’s right. Such a talented girl.” Gold ran a finger up her spine. “Do you like that?”</p><p>“Mhm.”</p><p>His hand returned to her waist. “I didn’t catch that.”</p><p>“Yes, sir. I love it.”</p><p>“Good girl.” He stroked her side appreciatively. “Can you take more?”</p><p>Belle nodded, biting on her lip. She wouldn’t be able to keep up her rhythm for much longer. It was a relief when his hands slid under her bunched up skirt and took her hips. He pulled her back, thrusting forward at the same time. They connected with a sharp smack, and Belle cried out. She couldn’t think. She could barely keep herself standing as he pulled her back to meet each of his harder thrust. His cock hit her at just the right angle, just the right depth, to make her whine.</p><p>“Head up,” he instructed. “Keep your eyes on the door.”</p><p>She lifted her head from the counter and opened her eyes. The street was still empty, but it excited her to think someone <em> could </em> have walked by, or tried to enter the shop.</p><p>“What would people say-- If they saw you now?” Gold wondered. “So beautiful. Eager to be fucked. Would they tell you how good you are... letting a bad man between your legs?”</p><p>A long, drawn out keen escaped her, and she couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore. It was too much. She was too close.</p><p>“You’re doing well,” Gold said, digging his fingers into her skin. “So well.”</p><p>She melted at his words. Her mind focused only on him; his hand gripping her, while the other reached up to pull her hair; the pumping of his cock inside her. His words. Somehow, a part of him still knew exactly what to say to turn her on and wind her up.</p><p>“Come for me again,” he encouraged. His tone dropped to a gruff, strained growl. He was as close as she was.</p><p>Squirming, Belle arched her back into the counter and lay across it. Her arms trembled too much to hold herself up any more. Gold’s pace wasn’t interrupted, a forgotten benefit of being the Dark One. He had a high stamina.</p><p>“Belle,” he grunted. “Come for me.”</p><p>Her second orgasm crested over her. It left her with a cry and a shudder, and no time to rethink screaming his name. He followed her over the edge with a jagged moan. His fingers dug into her tender skin, gripping her in place as he came. Belle hummed contentedly and smiled. Everything could be forgotten now, with him holding her like that. She was his, and he knew his touch was welcome. There was never any room for doubt in those moments after.</p><p>Stretching languidly, Belle let the counter take her full weight. She couldn’t lift herself if she tried. Her limbs sang pleasantly, too content to move any more, and Gold stayed close. He straightened, pulling out of her. His actions returned to gentle, tender touches again. He rubbed her hips, where his fingers had left white marks, and leaned down to kiss her shoulder.</p><p>“I’ll be back in a moment,” he said, leaving her sprawled across his counter. “I’m still here.”</p><p>She listened to him moving around the room. His cane tapped along with him, and as her mind began to focus on the rest of the world, she realised he hadn’t struggled to stand at all during their scene.</p><p>Curious, Belle opened her eyes and watched him return to her. <em> More magic. </em></p><p>He’d closed the blinds and straightened his clothes, and Belle smiled sleepily when he reached for her.</p><p>“Let’s get you cleaned up and dressed,” Gold said, stroking her back gently. “And I’ll take you home.”</p><p>Humming in agreement, Belle lifted herself and leaned against him. She didn’t bother to correct her skirt or cover herself, Gold did that for her. He straightened the skirt, put his blazer around her shoulders, and led her into the back room.</p><p>They sat side-by-side, on the little bed at the side of the room. Part of her wondered if he’d go back to work once she was seated, and she wrapped her arm around his waist to keep his close. She played with his loosened red tie, twirling it around her fist. Such a simple thing with so much meaning, she thought, smiling.</p><p>Gold watched her, and Belle pretended not to notice his bewildered look. Maybe he’d assumed she would move away as soon as the scene was over. He hadn’t prepared for a Belle who was sated and sleepy and wanted to cuddle. They could clean up and spend the evening right there, on that little bed. She and Rumple had done that before.</p><p>“I want to sleep here,” she decided. “When you’re done with work.”</p><p>Gold shook his head, and hooked his finger beneath her chin. “I wasn’t working.”</p><p>She looked up at him, intrigued and hopeful, and he smiled. His thumb stroked her chin, and she couldn’t help but smile when she met his dark eyes. Rumple was still in there, in the way he looked at her, in the tender way he touched her.</p><p>“I think about you, too,” Gold admitted.</p>
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